The Multi-Language Corner organized by our college was held in the Seventh Building on the fourteenth day of April. Those who fancied Japanese, French, German, and Russian gathered together for discussion and speaking practice. This activity is designed for most languages of our college and those who show interest in minority languages can find partners for speaking practice in it.
At the very beginning of the activity on April 14th, the participants were first guided to explore the everyday expressions of the language they were learning, watch the cartoons and listen to the songs of different languages. Then, the students were divided into groups for a discussion and the students from the same group were learning the same language. The discussion, in which the participants were required to foreign languages, was about their own school life and the culture in the very country that the language they were using belonged to. In addition, various little games were inserted to attract the participants’ attention, enabling them to practice speaking through their communication with others. For example, in the game “Haiguitang” in which one student was asked to give the beginning and ending of a story while the others needed to brainstorm what had happened in the story, all should use foreign languages to exchange views with each other. On the one hand, it improved the students’ reasoning ability, on the other, it motivated them to open mouth for speaking practice.
The Multi-Language Corner covers eight languages, and they are Japanese, French, German, Russian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italy. It is held twice in two weeks, four languages each time, and can be attended by those who are learning these languages and those who are just interested in them can join in it. Gao Zhanpo, a 2017 undergraduate student from our Japanese Department, is the organizer of this activity. He said that our college had such Corner for English while nothing for other languages. Therefore, the students learning other these languages didn’t have enough opportunities to practice speaking, so the Academy Promoting Center decided to hold Multi-Language Corner, aimed to provide those language learners and language lovers a good platform to practice speaking and make friends.
The Multi-Language Corner is supported by the Academy Promoting Center of the Student Union and has been held three times. It has received a lot of positive feedback from the participants, many of whom have been in it twice or more. The Corner adjusts its content and form to meet the changing circumstances. The 2017 undergraduate from our Japanese Department said that the Corner acts as an important platform for us to communicate with each other and to explore the culture behind a certain language. Sato Takeo, a 2016 undergraduate from the Chinese Language and Culture college of NKU appreciated such a Corner and said that he would try to spare time for it in the future.
Furthermore, Gao Zhanpo said, “the Corner will be normalized to be held every Sunday, in addition, it will have its forms diversified under the direction of the Academy Promoting Center to meet the requirements of our language learners, making sure that they can acquire a lot through this activity.”
